10 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



capacity, the next question is how much land remains to be added to 

 the wheat-growing acreage of the State. I am persuaded that already 

 the best wheat-growing sections of the State are fully under cultiva- 

 tion of that cereal, except such sections as require irrigation to make 

 them productive. With the aid of irrigation, however, the wheat 

 lands of San Joaquin Valley alone are capable of producing a larger 

 annual yield than the entire production of the State for this year. 

 There are also lands in the sections of the State possessing sufficient 

 annual rainfall to make a crop, which have not as yet been brought 

 under cultivation. It is probably no exaggeration to claim for Cali- 

 fornia a possible annual production of wheat equal to one hundred 

 million bushels. This is presented as within the reach of early pos- 

 sibility. 



The problems of both the present and future are transportation 

 and market. We have from the harvest of this year a surplus for 

 export of eight hundred thousand tons. To reach its market this 

 wheat must be transported to the seaboard by rail and thence by 

 ocean around Cape Horn to Liverpool. This is the longest voyage 

 made upon the eartli for commercial purposes. Our wheat must 

 make a longer voyage and pay a higher rate of transportation than 

 any offered in the market at Liverpool. Owing to this great distance 

 we cannot take advantage of the rise in the breadstuff's in Europe, 

 because we cannot reach the European market until the demand has 

 been in a great measure supplied from the wheat ports of our Atlantic 

 seaboard and of the Black Sea. A rise in the prices of breadstuffs 

 in Europe to-day, which would cause a general movement of wheat 

 from the interior to the seaboard, would at once overtax the carrying 

 capacity of the railroads and the rivers of California. The first great 

 need of the producers of this State is cheap warehouse facilities at 

 tide-water. This is the one imperative necessity of the California 

 farmer. As soon as the harvest begins the wheat should be moved 

 to the seaboard and stored in warehouses accessible to sea-going 

 vessels. We have produced thirty-three million bushels of wheat, 

 but when we offer this in the market we find a combination of forces 

 producing a low price. The market is in the hands of merchants, 

 commission men, and brokers. The large yield for export has raised 

 the rate of ocean tonnage, while the storage capacity of our ware- 

 houses is hopelessly inadequate. To overcome these disadvantages 

 it will be necessary to form associations of wheat producers to build 

 and own wharves and warehouses at the seaboard. These associa- 

 tions, holding large quantities of wheat ready to ship,_ could be placed 

 in receipt of the same information as to movements in breadstuffs in 

 the leading markets of the world, now monopolized by the commis- 

 sion merchant. 



The great natural outlet for the products of the Sacramento and 

 San Joaquin Valleys is at the Straits of Carquinez. It is already 

 clearly manifest that this natural outlet will, in the near future, be 

 the point of the largest export commerce of any port on the Pacific. 

 Whether by rail or by water, all commercial lines converge at Car- 

 quinez. The construction of warehouses and wharves at that port of 

 sufficient capacity to answer the demands for storage of our export 

 surplus, would confer the largest benefit upon the grain producers of 

 the State. But the grain growers can confer this great benefit upon 

 themselves, and to the advantage of facilitating the surplus product 

 to its market, add the saving of commission and brokerage, and reap 



